Google Earth is watching

Thurdsay morning I was putting on my makeup, getting ready for work, and saw this out the window.

We live on a dead end lane, so we knew he’d have to double back. Steve grabbed a camera so we could have a shot of the Google Earth periscope-mobile.

People here are oddly upset about Google Earth posting pictures of their streets, neighborhoods and homes. There are so many surveillance cameras here, way more than in the US, but oddly people are very upset about these pictures being an invasion of privacy. The fact that homes are much closer to the street might be a part of it – I sure hope there is not a Google Earth picture of me at my bathroom sink standing in my bathrobe.

The photograph you take shows a camera on a stick pointing into an upper-floor window where you could reasonably expect not to have anyone looking in, privacy. Frankly if someone put a camera on a pole and pointed it at my second floor window (bedroom) that is not normally overlooked, I’d consider this an invasion of my privacy.

CCTV in shopping Malls and on Streets pointing at the traffic or in shops are pointing at places where you can reasonably expect to be watched, you are in public.

Intersting, Google are using the ‘reasonably expect to be seen by public’ as a justification. Not many people have eyelevel at the hieght of their camera so this defence wouldn’t pass the ethics rules I learned about filming people in public without first seeking their written consent.